Turning a House into a Home, One Project at a Time

Week 3 Already? – One Room Challenge Progress

Hi there, if you are visiting Prairie Girl Home for the first time – welcome! I’m glad you dropped by! To catch up, my name is Kari, I’m from Saskatchewan, Canada and currently my husband and I, along with our sweet little boy are renovating our little 960 square foot bungalow on the prairies, room by room. We are participating in Linda from Calling It Home’s One Room Challenge. We are focusing on transforming our back entrance over a period of six weeks. Well, actually there are only three left!

Click here to see all the super ugly before pics and here to read all about what I have planned for the space.

This is the mood board I created to give you a better idea of the direction we are headed in.

Well, I won’t keep you in suspense my friends. The title of this post is perhaps a little misleading. It should probably read “Week 3 Already? – One Room Challenge Lack of Progress: An Update On My Complete and Utter Ongoing Failures” – but that seemed a little long, not to mention annoyingly self-deprecating.

Basically, due to me going into week 6 of what I have dramatically named “Cold-Mageddon”, and also due to my sweet five year old coming down with a raging case of the stomach flu we still have not actually started work on the back entrance. However, I’m not writing this to say that I think it’s impossible for us to finish. I mean, you saw the before pictures, this room is tiny – how long can it really take? (I need a sarcasm font. That was meant sarcastically. Just clarifying, in case you mistook me for being a super positive person who thinks this will be a piece of cake. It won’t. Be a piece of a cake. And I’m not. A super positive person. Well, okay, sometimes I am. But not today. Definitely not while suffering through Cold-Mageddon.)

Anyhow, as far as good news goes, my husband now seems completely on board with rigging up the scary scaffolding. So hooray for my sweet hubby, because I am still completely freaked out at even the thought of standing on top of some sort of temporary wood structure held up by only ladders.

Also, I may be eating my words from last week about how I was going to be oh-so-original by installing vertical planking and NOT copy Joanna Gaines, aka JoJo, aka “Queen of shiplap and all things Fixer-Upper and farmhouse style”. I know, I know. Here’s the thing, my husband seems to think with our crooked and wonky walls installing the planks horizontally instead of vertically will somehow be easier. Since I am not the one installing them, I’m not really in a position to argue too much. What? Did you think I was some kind of crazy renovation tyrant who only needs to utter my DIY heart’s desire and poof, my husband makes it a reality? Okay, sometimes that is definitely true. I have it pretty good, I know. But I am completely reasonable (some of the time) and definitely sympathetic (most of the time) to the fact that these things are never as easy as they seem. So, if the hubby says horizontal is easier for him to install and that makes it more likely for him to get this job done for me, I say YES! Thank you! Go for it, honey! I love shiplap! Joanna Gaines is my Decorating Diva! Okay, you get the picture. In all seriousness, I do think that a few years from now we are going to be saying, “Shiplap? That is so 2015.” However, I’m not above jumping on this shiplap bandwagon.

And there is no denying that the woman has taste. How completely gorgeous is this? I also love how she never has the nail holes covered up. Everything is just the perfect amount of undone. Even the gaps between the boards are all a bit different, some are slightly wonky and crooked. I love that. Oh, and that gallery wall. I can’t get enough of black and white framed gallery walls. I have one in our main hallway, but can you ever have enough gallery walls? I think not.

In unrelated news, but sort of related, since this involves decorating on a zero budget, like I talked about last week, I finished up an adorable pair of painted side tables to list for sale. Since last week I talked about shopping for deals and selling your old junk in order to finance renovation projects, this week I will share my other method. Buy someone else’s unwanted junk, fix it up until it is pretty and no longer junk, sell for profit, use said profit to pay for renovation projects!

I’m loving how they turned out! Do you recognize the wallpaper? Yes, I used some of the remnant pieces from our bathroom renovation that we finished up during last spring’s One Room Challenge. I think I love the birch trees even more set against that deep charcoal! So the week wasn’t a complete wash when it comes to projects being completed. If you are local to Regina and interested in purchasing these cuties, shoot me an email or contact me via facebook.

Oh, and in closing, if anyone has any miraculous DIY rug-cleaning tips for me, that would be greatly appreciated. Without getting too graphic on you, my five year old is and always has been absolutely terrified of his own vomit. Poor little dude. So his solution to this fear is to RUN through the house like a crazy person WHILE he throws up. Which means I, as his always patient and loving mother, have the tremendous joy of following him around the house armed with cleaning supplies, chucking everything I can into the washing machine and scrubbing down what remains. Rugs can’t go in the washing machine. I scrubbed it down as best I could, but I really have my doubts as to how clean it is now. Also, considering that I am currently suffering through my own Cold-Mageddon, I can only tolerate so much scrubbing. Obviously there is one very simple solution to my problem.

Buy a new rug.

Yes, I knew it. Thank you. I just needed that validation to pull the trigger on the IKEA sisal I’ve been coveting for several years now. Ignore the request for cleaning tips. Problem solved. #joking #notjoking #okayjoking

So I’m hoping that by this time next week we have some amazing progress pictures to share! We can totally do this, right? Right. Three weeks is plenty of time.

In the meantime, head over to Calling It Home to check out the other completely amazing featured designers to see how their One Room Challenge makeovers are coming along, as well as the 200+ guest participants. Don’t forget you can keep up to date with any makeover plans and progress by following me on Pinterest and Instagram! Hope to see you all here next week!

I love shiplap and I don’t care. 😉 Hope everyone feels better soon. Get some rest. As for the rug, Folex works wonders. As a last resort, rubbing alcohol maybe? Test it first. I use it on carpet all the time to remove paint stains. Baking soda will soak up smells. I can’t even count how many times my kids have puked in the car, so I’m an expert at car puke removal. Add that to my resume’!

Oh yes, baking soda! I should know that, my cold brain is totally blanking on everything! Thanks, will do that. Lol, well, that isn’t such a bad thing to be expert in! Now you can share your knowledge with other moms!
I currently love shiplap as well – I am just afraid I might hate it in a few years, and installing it in a tall stairwell seems a little bit of a hard thing to just change on a whim. Then again, maybe I will still be loving it then. Right now, I don’t really care! Just doing it anyhow! 😉

Sure enjoy your posts Kari! You are an amazing decorator. As for blogger…you’re absolutely hilarious! Very entertaining 😉 I’ve been under the weather as well, but no where near what you’re experiencing. My kids were pukers too! When they got sick I would lay towels out to cover the rug….didn’t always work, but better than none😆 I also would give them those 4L ice cream pails with handles. In fact I have a couple right now. Anyway…hope your project goes quickly☺

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About Me

Hey there and welcome to Prairie Girl Home! My name is Kari and I'm a wife, mama and decor obsessed prairie gal. I love transforming our little house into a home using creative and thrifty ideas - one project at a time.

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